The 2010 Obama administration moratorium stopped the issuing of new drilling leases (I believe existing drilling was allowed to continue, I could be wrong) in the GOM for 6 months after the Deep Water Horizon.

The eastern GOM has never really been on the table but the rest of it has been open to drilling since Dec. 2010. The lease sales have drawn little interest since the price collapse two years ago. Oil companies with unexplored leased blocks have scaled back significantly on new drilling due to low prices.

Other than for the 6 month period (and the few months it took to meet new compliance with spill containment) the western GOM has never been closed to drilling. There is nothing to "open back up".

I'm reading that fracking tech is developing and driving the break even price of a barrel downwards, which will compete with conventional for a long time, I think. Perhaps offshore will become less expensive as well? I wouldn't look for an expansion soon, or in the next couple years.

I talked to PHI's GOM Ops Manager today at Heli-Expo (and he also briefed a group of us at Heli-Success two days ago) and he stated-we also queried him on it just to confirm-they haven't hired any new pilots in his org for two years. TWO years. If some of what the current Administration wants comes into actual play, he expects they will see an uptick, but he doesn't expect it to spool for 12-18 months.

For GOM to quit being depressed, he stated that economically, oil needs to sustain above $70 a barrel-sooo.

I agree with Wally that the GOM won't ever be what it was a few years ago. When I left almost a year ago a lot of the operating companies were really downsizing. I flew on a couple of different contracts that once had 2 birds flying the loop and doing their crew changes, but had cut back to one bird. It was not uncommon to fly 7 or 8 hours a day, and on occasion we would not be able to get everything done because I would time out. The company was basically still flying the same amount of hours but with one less pilot to pay.

I still stay in touch with several of the guys that I flew with, and they say they are still flying their butts off and that the company is still hiring pretty steady due to normal pilot turnover. I wouldn't look for a noticeable increase in new drilling until crude stays steady at around $70 a barrel for a while. But that's just my opinion.